At the time, two cities in Massachusetts had outright bans on 'pit bull-type" dogs, while several others places restrictions on pit bulls.

Then, in Marshfield, animal control officer Deni Goldman explained the changes to their selectmen -- noting that "Basically what this does is make owners more responsible for the actions of their pets, rather than saying that the reason that a pet misbehaved was because it was a breed of a certain type."

Well said.

Martha's Vinyard also appears to be making some changes to their local bylaws in order to comply with the new state law.

Meanwhile, the Telegram in Worcester, MA is reporting that that community has removed its breed restrictions without a lot of debate.

The same is true in Lowell, MA where Mike Keiley of the Animal Advisory Committee noted that now "Animal control is in a better position now to take the laws that are in effect and be able to protect people more effectively. Keily also noted that the state's provision prohibiting breed-specific legislation is progressive compared to other states.

I couldn't agree more.

Like Ohio earlier this year, the new state law in Massachussetts is bringing rapid change to many communities who had old, archaic laws on the books, and positive changes that include targeting aggressive dogs based on their behavior, not based on what they look like.

I know Boston wanted to invoke home rule to keep their ban in place, but there doesn't seem to be anything online about the issue beyond some public griping from city officials at the time 2184 was passed. Does anyone know if they succeeded? Hopefully not and their ban is now invalidated.

Last report I saw was that Boston was still planning on fighting this -- possibly even taking the state to court over it. Everyone else seems to be falling in line nicely though. But without legal action, Boston's breed-specific law is invalid.

See the note on this page - the breed discrimination laws are void. However, their pages still refer to pit bull licenses. If you care about this issue, email or call the city and tell them to update their web pages to be consistent with the laws being invalid.